Hardwork Pays
IIT JEE is the entrance examination for entering the portals of the seven Indian Institutes of Technologies (situated at Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai, Roorkee), the premier engineering institutions of the country. It is considered to be one of the toughest examinations for undergraduate entrance in the world, this being the primary reason behind the IITs getting their name. IIT JEE tests the proficiency of the test takers in the areas of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Each of the subjects is given equal weightage.
Every year, nearly two lakh ’Plus 2’ students vie for entering IITs, and it becomes a fierce battle of intellects and determination to secure a seat in these institutions. As even a slight advantage makes a huge difference in the final ranks, students try to gain this extra edge by joining various coaching institutes that give either classroom coaching or correspondence coaching for IIT JEE. Some of the more prominent institutes that coach for IIT JEE are FIIT JEE, APEX Academy, Brilliant Tutorials, and others. These institutes offer coaching by both the modes mentioned. There are also a few institutes that offer only classroom coaching, like Ramaiah (Hyderabad), Bansals (Kota) and others, which admit students through an entrance test.
The preparation for IIT JEE generally takes two years. Students start preparing for this immediately after their tenth standard, and this effort culminates after the day of the entrance. For this day, many students devote almost their entire two years preparing for it. It is common to burn midnight oils on numerous occasions (hey..iam not scaring anybody! Ask any person preparing!).
Coming to the pattern of the entrance exam, IIT JEE is divided into two tests: Screening and the Mains. The Screening Test serves to select a small percentage among the huge number of students appearing for the test. These candidates become eligible to write the main entrance, which unlike the screening test, is subjective. All the three subjects mentioned above are given equal time duration and are given equal weightage.
There are a plethora of books for each subject which serve to give ample exposure to various problems and situations. As I took the test many years back, I am not sure of the names of the books I followed (In case you need any advice on any book, you can write in the comments). Among the correspondence material, YGFiles from Brilliant Tutorials, GMP from FIIT JEE and correspondence material from APEX Academy give a large number and variety of problems to attempt.
About the Ranks: A total of nearly 4.5K All India Ranks are given, which form the basis to enter the various streams of engineering in the 7 IITs. The courses are offered in B.Tech., Dual Degree (B.Tech. and M.Tech.) and M.Sc. streams.
Here are some tips one can follow during preparation period:
First and foremost, follow a regular and nutritous diet (most of them neglect this seemingly harmless tip and some even end up with serious health problems)
As one has to do a large amount of book reading, it is better to stay away from TV and Computers.
Always keep your mind fresh and temperate (there are innumerable techniques to so this like Meditation, Yoga, good Diet, so on)
Devote a lot of time to problem solving, not just theory
5 Cultivate a habit of not looking at answers, since there are no answers in IIT JEE, right!
- Don’t forget to have a proper amount of sleep everyday (I used to sleep 7-8 hrs a day, though occasionally I had fewer hours).
7.Last but not the least, remember that the effort you put in these two years decides your future, and as the beginning of the review says - Hard Work pays.
I hope this review is useful to IIT JEE aspirants, atleast to some extent. Readers are welcomed to drop in their comments and doubts.
Abt me: I am an alumni of IIT, Madras